There are certainties in life: birth, death and Sigma Plastics Group continuing to grow.
The Pompano Beach, Fla.-based company is at it again, this time acquiring Poly Pak America Inc. of Los Angeles.
Poly Pak extrudes, prints and converts heavy-duty outdoor bags as well as mailers and other packaging, Sigma said June 6.
“If you run a business, you have to grow,” Sigma CEO Alfred Teo said. “If you don't grow, you go backwards. The market is good right now. The market has been pretty ripe for consolidation.”
Poly Pak America becomes the Poly Pak Packaging division of Mercury Plastics, which is part of Sigma Plastics. The deal expands Mercury's product offering and adds employee experience, the company said.
“It helps Mercury enter new markets. It supplements our current production capabilities and brings in new capabilities to enter other markets that we really haven't been focusing on in the past,” said Benjamin Deutsch, who has an ownership stake in Mercury. Deutsch becomes co-CEO of Poly Pak.
Poly Pak's operations include two buildings near downtown Los Angeles, one for extrusion and printing and one for converting and warehouse space. They are about a mile apart.
“Overall, it's a great fit for us, gives us a lot more markets to sell into. We're able to realize consolidation savings,” Deutsch said.
Caryn Fitleberg, with more than 30 years at PolyPak and the plastics industry, will be vice president and director of operations. Andrew Teo, son of Alfred Teo, will be chief financial officer.
Caryn Fitleberg, a daughter of Poly Pak founder Richard Gurewitz, who herself has more than 30 years experience at Poly Pak and the plastics industry, is now vice president and director of operations at Poly Pak Packaging. She had been president and chief operating officer of Poly Pak America.
Andrew Teo, son of Alfred Teo, will be chief financial officer.
The acquisition of Poly Pak follows Mercury Plastics' move earlier this year to buy the assets of Western Concord Manufacturing. Mercury Plastics, with the addition of both Poly Pak and Western Concord, has manufacturing sites in Edmonton, Alberta; Delta, British Columbia; Vancouver, Wash.; Salamanca, Mexico; Los Angeles and City of Industry, Calif.
“Western Concord had various production capabilities that we [Mercury] did not have,” Deutsch said, including lamination and stand-up pouch manufacturing. “That was very important for us to acquire all that business and that equipment.”
Alfred Teo and his family has built Sigma Plastics into a powerhouse over the years partially through acquisitions. And he said he expects that trend to continue.
“I think a lot of owner-operators realize they cannot compete with some of the bigger companies going forward. They also are probably getting older,” he explained.
“We do a couple acquisitions every year. We are pretty picky. We do the acquisition when it makes sense,” said Alfred Teo while indicating another deal is in the works for the firm. “We don't go chase after the deal.”
Sigma, founded by Alfred Teo in 1978, calls itself the largest privately owned film extrusion group in North America. The company has 42 manufacturing sites with a total annual capacity to handle 2 billion pounds of resin.
The company, with 4,500 employees, serves the industrial, agricultural, food, medical, retail and converter film markets. The company ranked No. 4 in Plastics News' survey of North American film & sheet manufacturers, with estimated sales of $2.42 billion.
Poly Pak has been in business since 1971. The company ranked No. 97 in the most recent Plastics News survey of North American film & sheet manufacturers, with estimated sales of $48 million.
Poly Pak was founded by Gurewitz, who started in the burlap bag business in 1952. He won the Leo Shluker Award from the California Film Extruders & Converters Association in 1997.